On Feb. 20 Division 3 Director Anne Rice’s resignation became effective. Rice’s resignation is the third since the Camp Fire devastated Paradise on Nov. 8. The district lost general manager Ed Fortner, Jr and Division 1 Director Dan Wentland before calendar could flip to 2019.
Since Rice resigned the district opened up for those interested to apply with a letter of interest with the deadline being 4 p.m. , March 14.
When PID meets Wednesday it does so without a single letter of interest to replace Rice. So tonight the board will be asked to extend the letter of interest to April 11.

Doing so gives the district the ability to choose a candidate by its April 17 meeting. That’s an important date, because if there is no candidate to consider, the board will have to call for an election by by April 21.

If its doesn’t do that, then the Butte County Board of Supervisors can fill the vacancy. If for whatever reason the supervisors don’t do it, it will then force a special election if the seat remains vacant for 90 days.

It would be beneficial to the Paradise that someone who lives within Division 3 throws their hat in the ring. The last thing PID needs to do is spend money — Post Camp Fire — on an election. And the idea the Supervisors would choose the new director is less than ideal.

Now the open seat also affords those who live in the division an opportunity to have some influence on Paradise’s future. It probably seems like a daunting task, but water will have a significant role in where the town goes from here. Directors are expected to attend at least one evening board meeting a month and typically attend an average of two committee meetings a month.

The seat will open in the next general district election in November 2020, and the person who fills the vacancy assumes office in December 2020. That’s with the assumption anyone appointed won’t run for re-election.